


'Neath Your Spell

by FandomTrashbag



Series: Pieces of Cake [9]
Category: Labyrinth (1986)
Genre: Domesticity, F/M, call it a fade to black, casually bisexual sarah williams, dirty 30 theme, just the implication of smut, milestone birthdays, of course they're watching can-can
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-10
Updated: 2020-06-10
Packaged: 2021-03-03 21:14:42
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,079
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24652147
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FandomTrashbag/pseuds/FandomTrashbag
Summary: As Jareth passes out on her couch, Sarah remembers her last milestone birthday and the way it began to shape her current future.
Relationships: Jareth/Sarah Williams
Series: Pieces of Cake [9]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1772494
Comments: 2
Kudos: 46





	'Neath Your Spell

**Author's Note:**

> All these ficlets exist at various points in the same universe, hence the series collection, but are not intrinsically tied. There's no larger plot.
> 
> M rating just to be sure; nothing explicit here.

She finally found herself wondering when this had happened, when they became so comfortable, almost domestic. Noticing this shift in her reality was suddenly a little scary and she knew it was time to start considering what it meant. They had been fairly intimate emotionally for some years; he’d become a kind of confidant for her as she grew up. She looked down fondly at his sleeping form, his head resting across her folded thighs and his lean legs stretched along the length of her sofa with his bare feet just barely dangling off the far arm. His day had been long and she had been glad to indulge his fascination with films, letting him drift to sleep to the crooning numbers of Frank Sinatra and Shirley MacLaine. Her hand had been idly stroking through his fine hair, nails gently dragging across his scalp. She sipped her 3AM tea and closed her eyes, thinking back seven years prior, when she let things shift.

_ 30 did not feel like a milestone birthday. She’d done little, aside from go out with her few friends to a nice dinner, and then for drinks. The bar had offered her more than a couple propositions for company home that night, but she had insistently declined them all, including her current casual fling. Midnight had her kicking her heels off as she came through the door, locking it peacefully behind her. She moved past all the remaining decorations to fill a glass of water and take several long gulps, trying to make up for her higher-than-normal alcohol consumption over the course of the night. Her mind wandered to the events of the night and the company she’d kept. She loved her friends, but she would never admit to them there had been an important piece missing from celebrations; it was a piece that she hadn’t actively missed until now. _

_ Her neck broke out into goosebumps and she turned around, leaning back against her counter and facing the living room to see her new guest. Her smile grew, though she hid it behind the glass. _

_ “‘Dirty 30’? Really, Sarah? I  _ **_must_ ** _ know more,” he teased, indicating the birthday banner still strung up above her television. _

_ “Were your ears burning or something?” she said as he took his feet off her coffee table and stood up. _

_ He held his arms out slightly to his sides. “Why? Were you thinking of me?” He waggled his eyebrows suggestively, playfully. _

_ She didn’t really respond, but shook her head and set down her glass. “So,” she said, crossing her arms casually across her chest. “To what do I owe the pleasure of Your Majesty’s visit?” _

_ “Did you think, after all this time, I would really forget? I came to wish you the happiest of birthdays.” For a moment, he almost sounded hurt. _

_ He had rarely missed her birthdays since she turned 18. It started with a note or a crystal with a trinket as their relationship had shifted to something resembling friendship. His actual visits started after her 21st, but never in public, never around other people. They didn’t know who he was, that he even existed. The handful of attempted relationships she had moved through were always respected. _

_ She moved to the living room so that they occupied the same space. It felt less cold to do so. Then she moved to hug him, genuinely glad he had showed up at all. She sighed happily when he reciprocated, wrapping her in his arms firmly and planting a kiss to the top of her head. _

_ She pulled back a little to look at him. “I guess I just wasn’t sure.” _

_ “I do try to steer clear of your companions. I’ve merely been waiting for the right time.” He spoke as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. Of course he wouldn’t miss her big birthday (though he had long stopped counting his own). Of course he would not make himself known. _

_ There was a pang of guilt that shot through her. She was hiding him. She’d had the audacity to miss him when he’d been stuck watching her all evening. He’d been waiting just so he could get in his time with her. She had missed him, yet she hadn’t made room for him. He could have been there, would have been there, if she’d just asked. This guilt was new, and she knew it meant something. _

_ “Jareth…” she tried to begin, but he interrupted. _

_ “I’ve brought you a gift.” His tone was much lighter than the first time he’d ever said those words to her, but she sensed a nervousness. He twisted his wrist, held near her eye level, and conjured a crystal. He let it roll around a little, like a drop of water rolling off Teflon. It was a fluid motion that never failed to mesmerize her. He allowed it to roll off the back of his gloved fingers, dropping into her hand. _

_ She looked askance at him when it remained a crystal, not changing shape into any other object. _

_ “This will… allow you to travel Underground. On your own that is. I know it is no trinket, as I’ve given in past years…” he trailed off, surreptitiously holding his breath as she looked from him to the crystal and back again. _

_ “Did… did you just give me a key to your place?” She was a little surprised. She had only traveled back there twice since her initial visit, and it had either been under his power or Hoggle’s. It was a place she couldn’t get to on her own. _

_ “I am simply offering you the means to come and go as you please, without requiring assistance. But if you’d like to look at it from a mortal standpoint, then it could be used that way, yes.” He almost looked sheepish, though he was trying very hard to make this the most casual thing. _

_ Was he nervous about this? Was he… blushing? _

_ He was taking a step, inviting her into his life more fully. Should she do the same? Could she? _

_ She raised her free hand up to brush a stray lock of his hair out of his face. “Thank you,” she said softly, a smile spreading across her face. _

_ He was left little time to read her reaction before her lips were on his. It was tentative, soft, but a firm move. His eyes widened and he tensed for just a second until he felt her shift. Her hand laid against his clavicle over his shirt and her mouth moved to fit against his better. Then he let a breath out slowly through his nose and relaxed. He refused to close his eyes, watching her carefully. _

_ She was relieved when he didn’t push her away; making the first move had never been her strong suit. Feeling his body relax gave her more confidence and she started to move her mouth more boldly. He certainly kissed her back, but she could sense his hesitation. His hand hadn’t moved from her waist at all and he made no move to take things further. Had she kept him at arm’s length too long? Did she need to make herself more clear? _

_ Tossing the crystal in her hand blindly, hoping it would land on the sofa (she would assume it did, later, considering she never heard it hit the floor), her now-free hand wrapped around the base of his neck, her thumb pushing against the back of his jaw under his ear. She sucked gently on his bottom lip and pushed herself closer to him, trying to be clear with actions and not words. Very gently, she ran the tip of her tongue along his mouth. _

_ His grip on her waist tightened and he let her explore, his other hand staying by his side. He itched to touch her with it, but refused, his hand flexing near his thigh. She was going to lead… whatever this was. Nevertheless, he certainly enjoyed the gentle tangle of their tongues and failed to stop a quiet groan. This seemed to spur her on because she became a little more insistent and he found himself becoming a little more complicit. Her arms curled under his, her hands now pushing against his back to keep him close. It took all he had to pull his head away from hers, his free hand a solid fist; under the thin leather of his gloves his knuckles were stark white. _

_ “Sarah…” His voice was breathy, but carried a clear warning. She was walking a line here. _

_ “It’s okay,” she said, leaning her forehead against his chest. “Really.” Her fingers were starting to dance a little along his back. _

_ “What about that girl you’ve been seeing? Annie, I believe?” _

_ She looked up at him, then, a little surprised. “How…?” _

_ He laughed silently. “Don’t be so shocked, Sarah. I’ve paid attention to the way you speak about her. I may take care to avoid your friends, but I take greater care in avoiding your lovers. Your boundaries have been clear.” _

_ Yes, her boundaries had always been clear. She pressed a kiss to the hollow of his clavicle. “Annie and I… it didn’t go anywhere. We never even became exclusive.” _

_ “And this?” he asked, careful to keep any hope from changing the pitch of his voice. _

_ “I honestly have no idea.” Her right hand left his back to trail down and close over his fist. She coaxed his fingers open and threaded their hands together. Her other hand moved down his back to rest on the swell of his ass. “I know right now I want it to go to my bedroom. I think we can make it that far, don’t you.” Her grip on his hand tightened as she pushed their hips together suggestively, his erection becoming apparent. _

_ His breath hissed through his teeth and he closed his eyes against the sensation. “You’re sure this is what you want?” _

_ She reached up on tiptoes, dragging the length of her body along his and whispered hotly into his ear. “Call it a birthday present.” She sucked on his earlobe as he growled and gripped her tightly around her waist, lifting her just off the ground and moving towards her room at the end of the hall. _

_ “‘Dirty 30’ indeed, Precious.” His voice was a low, dangerous rumble as he devoured her mouth with a heat and passion he’d held back for some time. _

_ His display frightened her in the best way, thrilled her in a manner no one had been able to. She didn’t know if she’d regret this in the morning but she certainly wasn’t doing so now. The urgency she felt in that one kiss never left all night. _

_ He drank her like a thirsty man that night, kissing and tasting every inch of her. He proved to be attentive and a very active listener, keeping her short of breath until they were both tired and sated. Afterwards, they had spooned in her bed, his long fingers tracing idle shapes on her side, over the swell of her hip, as she slept. _

_ She had woken the next morning to a warm, but empty, bed. The crystal she had discarded the evening before was now on her side table with the customary “Happy Birthday” note sitting beneath it. _

She found herself tracing those same paths absently along his side, lost in her memory and staring vacantly at that solid crystal now serving as a centerpiece on her coffee table. As she drew patterns with one hand and continued carding through his hair with another, she found herself singing with Louis Jourdan on her television.

“You do something to me, something that simply mystifies me. Tell me, why should it be, you got the power to hypnotize me?” Her voice was low and slightly off key as she tried not to wake him. She failed, she realized, when she felt his hand lace through hers as he ceased her idle drawing.

She looked down at her lap to see him awake and staring intently. His much better voice completed the refrain for her, “Let me live ‘neath your spell. Do do that voodoo that you do so well. ‘Cause you do something to me, that nobody else can do.” He brought their hands to his lips so he could kiss the back of hers, his mouth moving against her skin. “That no one else in the world can do.”

**Author's Note:**

> "Can-Can" from 1960 with Jourdan, MacLaine, and Sinatra is one of my favorite musicals and I pretty much love the entire Cole Porter songbook.
> 
> Feel free to let me know if there are any themed moments of life you'd like to see.


End file.
